Self Expression

<i>”A fool has no delight in understanding,
but in expressing his own heart.”
Proverbs 18:2</i>

I am an artist.  I create, I move, I manipulate and emulate things around me and through me in order to create.  An artist is simply one who <i>creates</i> an object to a pleasing end.  Artists come in many different forms; such as painters, singers, song-writers, poets, sculptors and so on.  All of them sharing a common bond of creating work that exemplifies an aspect of it’s creator or the creator’s intent.  All art is representative of something, even if it’s just creating for the sake of creating.

Artists are usually passionate, and so therefore use the creation of art as an outlet for that passion.  Talent is almost irrelevant since art can be subjective from the creator to a viewer, or even a viewer from viewer.  It doesn’t need to adhere to a third party technical standard in order to do what it’s creator wants.  There are many fine, talented people that create but are not artists because their passion lies elsewhere.  Originality is not important, or even the views of a subjective viewer because the point of the creation is to simply adhere to that aforementioned third party standard.

So we have passion that drives an artist to create.  The artist creates art in order to express that passion and is personified through the specifics of the craft.  So logically we can ask ourselves the following questions:

Is art completely subjective or is there a common standard?
Is the best form of art derived from the deepest of passions?
Ultimately what is the highest beauty worthy of being expressed through art?

May I submit to you that all of the questions have the same answer?  Because in earnest they do.

Is art subjective?  Let’s delve deeper.  Can art have a different impact or message from one person to another?  Yes, of course it can.  We are all different, all coming from different background with different life experiences that taint and mold our worldview in which we see things like art.  A song that brings me to tears might only bring indifference to another person.  But we must realize that we are coming from an internal perspective of how a piece of art moves us in our personal way as opposed to an external view which is relating in a more logical and purposeful approach.

If I were to write a song that to me was the ultimate in beauty but was nothing but chaos to every other that heard it I would not say that my art is subjective and only those who live on my tier of creativity can understand, I would say there is something <i>different</i> in my worldview from others.  Different can certainly mean wrong in this case.  So assuming my art is flawed because of my flawed worldview, my art comes becomes a failure as it goes against a more universal standard.  But what is that standard?

Is the best form of art derived from the deepest of passions?  Now with our understanding on the unreletivistic nature of art we see this question in the following light:
Can a worldview that is in accordance to a higher standard which is fueled by large depths of passion create a high form of art?  Yes.  This is also where talent comes into play to help bridge the gap between the differences, the gaps if you will in our own worldviews which might view the art differently.  Talent can be described here the best bridge between worldviews to one view that is higher.

So we have the following equation: Deep passion= best art.  What then is the deepest passion?

Ultimately what is the highest beauty worth being expressed through art?  In understanding beauty we must also understand that beauty does not come to us as an open gift.  There are parameters around beauty that must be regarded and protected.  There are different levels of love, each expressed by different relationships.  Each has it’s own essence of beauty but likewise expressed different by each.  There are lines that are not meant to be crossed.  In our own worldviews we can understand the purpose of beautiful art out of it’s place, but that does not justify it’s existence outside of it’s borders.  But the highest beauty, as it were, is just as accessible to all regardless of experiences or highly evolved worldviews.  Ergo it’s expression through art should be reachable by all.  It is universal in the fact that it’s innate beauty can far surpass any gap we might have between our worldviews if it is sufficiently expressed with talent.

So the question begging to be asked to come to a full conclusion is this:

What is the highest beauty?

Please forgive me as I have only answered my own questions with more questions.  I have done so in order to attempt to follow logic in it’s course to come to better understanding of the answer.  But now that we have an understanding of the roots of the questions and both their philosophical and existential implications I can give the answer and supply a sufficient reasoning.

God.

Plain and simple everyone.  It’s God.  The Trinity, to be more exact.  Within the Trinity we have perfect love, perfect relationship, perfect communication, perfection of will and actions, perfection of the mind, body soul as expressed by three beings all relating to each other as one.  We are the creation of God as His expression of that love and passion being poured into our very being.  All of us bear His image as a sign of that love.

But we are fallen and seek to express our own fallen hearts.  Our distortions in our worldviews we come to love and seek to create art for instead of our Father’s love.  The shards of a broken image of God become mirrors for our souls in the way we express art.

What is the standard I was talking about?  God’s law.  God’s law is His will for us to live our lives in accordance with Him in order to have a perfect relationship with Him – the purpose behind our creation.

What is the deepest passion?  The passion that comes from realizing our fallen state and then returning to Him in approach of relationship.  Through salvation, just a mere taste of that divine passionate love God has for us is enough to fill us for eternity.  Do you realize that?  Since God in His character is infinite, His love and passion is infinite.  If we are the expression of His infinite love, then we can draw that same passion for Him through Him.

What is highest beauty?  All of the beauty that we see around us derives from the creator of beauty, the one who wolds the standard and content of perfect beauty in His hand.  This is the ultimate in contrast!  Our sinful nature – the darkest of blacks and the most chaotic of chords in relation to the brightest of whites and the most harmonic chords being played into eternity as the sinful nature is driven from us by God’s love.

I hear all the time from my fellow artists, “I lost inspiration” or, “There’s no passion that drives me”.  Taste of what Christ has to offer, drink from His overflowing and infinite cup of love and beauty and you will never quench of thirst again.

The best we can offer apart from God is dirty rags compared to His tapestries.  Read Psalm 51 and read what it’s like to beg God for that passion.  Read Jeremiah 20:9 and see a passion that burns hotter even than our own desires.  Read what Christ did on the cross willingly to bring us to that point of perfect expression – His love.

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